Winter Winds
by Darth Erebus
Summary: Katolis had the most skilled soldiers of all the Pentarchy, certainly, however… The Raiders were warriors, and there was a key difference there that Callum was sure to note. Afterall… "Soldiers follow their orders, but warriors follow their hearts. Make sure you always follow your heart, little warrior."


Callum always knew his birth father was from Del Bar, had been told he was from the northern portion specifically; where the continent was nearly always frozen, and broke off into thousands of tiny isles that were the home of the Del Barian raiders. The raiders who were, while not _officially _recognized as their own kingdom, and thus just viewed as Del Barian pirates, were _unofficially _recognized as the rulers of northern Del Bar and the oceans which bordered it.

The many warring tribes and parties that made up the Raiders did nothing but that, wage war, and pillage, and murder, and raid. For many generations, and even within Callums own lifetime, he had heard the stories of raiders attacks on villages in both north Katolis - who were ill equipped to deal with the attackers, which was becoming an increasing problem - and Del Bar itself.

Using the rivers that were so common in the northern portions of the pentarchy as their 'highways of hell' - and that wasn't an exaggeration, they were legitimately known as such throughout the human kingdoms - the raiders could launch surprise attacks on unsuspecting villages with little resistance. It made them a favorite mercenary group to hire among the nobility of Del Bar when dealing with rebellions.

The Raiders were famous throughout the world as some of the most skilled and brutal warriors in the human kingdoms, only really rivaled by the strength of the Katolian forces - an achievement of both his Aunt Amaya and late mother had taken great pride in - but even that was pushing it. Katolis had the most skilled soldiers of all the Pentarchy, certainly, however…

The Raiders were warriors, and there was a key difference there that Callum was sure to note. Afterall…

"_Soldiers follow their orders, but warriors follow their hearts. Make sure you always follow your heart, little warrior."_

The image of his father was blurry, and though he couldn't see his face - nor see him at all, really - Callum knew that it was _he _who had told him that.

The Raiders were warriors, and his father was a Raider. Had been, at least.

_No one told me he was, not even mom ever really brought him up once he died, but… _

There was something in his heart, in his blood, that told Callum his father had been a raider. And to be honest, he didn't really know how to feel about it.

_At the end of the day, I'm still __**just **__Callum. The step-prince who, even if his father __**was **__a raider - and how much __**more **__sad would it be if he was - can't swing a sword properly, can't ride a horse, can't __**do anything **__right._

Opening his eyes to glare tearfully up at the castle ceiling from where he sat in bed, the scorching cold in Callum's heart grew wider.

_I'm still just Callum._

* * *

The young artist sighed as he meandered his way through the long castle halls as _slowly _as he could, dragging his feet as he moved towards the courtyard where he was supposed to meet up with Soren for swordsmanship lessons.

"Yaaaay," the young prince murmured under his breath sarcastically as he turned the corner, coming face to face with the daylight that streamed in from the courtyard, and sealing his fate.

"Step-prince!"

_Fuc- Right off the bat with that one? He must be pissed._

"Hey, hey, Soren!" The boy stumbled a bit, before shooting upright and regaining his posture, "Um, whatcha doing here?"

_Idiot._

"Oh you know, just waiting here for _you_, Prince Callum, for about, oh I don't know," the captain checked his wrist as though he was wearing a watch, before looking back at him with a dark, frustrated look. "A really long time!"

Callum winced, approaching slowly.

"Right, sorry, I uh… Don't actually have an excuse… Huh." The prince smiled a small, awkward smile as he reached up and scratched the back of his head awkwardly, hoping to defuse the situation with his sheer pitiful-ness alone.

Soren sighed.

"Fine, alright, let's just get started."

_Yes, operation success._

"Ok," Soren crossed his arms, face dull with boredom, "So today we're going over the art -"

Callum opened his mouth to offer a sharp quip, but Soren's glare shut him up long before the joke could leave his mouth.

"Of defense. It is _critical _in sword fighting. Parrying is about angle, motion, anticipation," The older teen moved through a series of motions with the practice sword as he spoke, giving Callum a split second to try and catch the correct movements before the young man paused once again. Pulling back, the blond released a sharp poke to Callum's forehead.

"Misjudge your opponent, and it's _over_."

Soren dangled the wooden blade in front of him, giving the young prince a raised brow as he did so.

"You ready?"

_No_, _you showed me like __**nothing**__. How am I __**ever **__going to be ready after tha-_

"Yup!"

_No! You fool!_

"Good. Let's do this." Soren backed up as Callum took a rudimentary stance, trying his hardest to remember everything Soren, and all his other combat tutors had ever taught him.

_Alright, angle, motion, anticipation. So all I have to do is anticipate his movements and then I'll be able to - _

Callum received a sharp thunk to his head, of which he had miseribly failed to block - or _parry_, he guessed - and fell to the ground in a heap.

"Aaaaand you're dead,"

"Ugh," Moving again, Callum stood to his feet, again trying to think of everything he had been taught as he went on the attack this time, and was swiftly parried and poked hard in the ribs, knocking him to the ground.

This repeated itself for over half an hour, before Callum was left as nothing but a haggard _heap _on the cold stone ground.

_I suck at this._

"I suck at this," Callum voiced his thought, glaring balefully down at the ground as he did so."

"Ya well," Soren shrugged apathetically, " You _still _gotta practice. It's what's expected of you as a prince."

_You have no idea… _

Frustration bubbled in Callum's chest.

"Well, _step-prince, _anyway."

_**!**_

Callum turned his gaze up to the older knight who stood above him, his emotions boiling to his eyes as the words of nobles and common folk alike rose like phantoms to his ears.

"_Damn __**Skamelar**_"

"_Class jumping __**mongrel**_"

"_The __**only **__reason the King takes care of him is because he feels __**guilty **__about the Queen, rest her heart."_

" _The damn __**hedge born**__."_

"_**Useless**_ _boy."_

"_More useful as a __**churl**__."_

"_**Bastard**__."_

"_**Step**_ _**Prince**__."_

Callum doesn't remember picking up the wooden sword, _or _moving towards Soren, _or _anything that followed; not the roar that carved from his throat like something inhuman, not the way he'd descended upon the castle guard, and not the way he had fought him until he'd been restrained by the few guards nearby.

He did, however, remember the emotions that had played over Soren's face. Surprised, certainly, regretful, perhaps a little, but most of all he looked _afraid_. A primal fear, like he had just escaped some vicious, mindless, _relentless __**predator**_.

And Callum… Wasn't sure how he felt about that.

* * *

**Howdy! Ok so this was just an idea of mine, of which I got after maaaaybe watching a bit too much Vinland Saga, and deciding that after all these half-elf Callum fics we got out here, I wanted to try something else with his male parental figure… Got a couple of ideas for spin offs of that trope brewing in the ole noggin actually, but this was just the first one I got to writing.**

**Obviously, besides his father being a viking, and a bit more world building of my own going into play, not a lot is gonna change for Callum or anyone else. Everything else that happened in episodes 1-3 are still gonna happen, even if I choose not to go over it. His biological father being who he is doesn't change that.**

**What I'm trying to say is that even if Callum has this theory that his father's a 'Raider' - which no one has confirmed for him yet - he still is going to stay pretty much the same. He still thinks magic is really cool, and is still the same goofball we all know and love, just a bit… Angrier, sometimes, and a little more crass with his words when pushed or when speaking to himself - which I count more towards what I believe to be his low class upbringing than his father's blood - but otherwise he's still just Callum.**

**P.S. Who likes all the medieval insults I threw in there? Pretty neat right? Most of them are simply referring to his lowborn status, being the son of two common bloodlines, incase you were wondering.**

**Hope y'all enjoy!**


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